Here, you are urged and encouraged to run your mouths about something important.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

'Seasoned producer' fired by NBC over Zimmerman 911 edit; will not release name

The good news is that someone was fired at NBC news over the blatantly irresponsible decision to selectively edit the recording of George Zimmerman's 911 call to make him appear racist. The bad news is that NBC is refusing to name the person (something tells me we'll find out) and this act alone doesn't do anything about the insidiously dishonest and corrupt culture that exists within the mainstream media; it only further validates what clear-thinking people already know.

NBC News has fired a producer who was involved in the production of a misleading segment about the Trayvon Martin case in Florida.

The person was fired on Thursday, according to two people with direct knowledge of the disciplinary action who declined to be identified discussing internal company matters. They also declined to name the fired producer. A spokeswoman for NBC News declined to comment.

The action came in the wake of an internal investigation by NBC News into the production of the segment, which strung together audio clips in such a way that made George Zimmerman’s shooting of Mr. Martin sound racially motivated. Ever since the Feb. 26 shooting, there has been a continuing debate about whether race was a factor in the incident.

The segment in question was shown on the “Today” show on March 27. It included audio of Mr. Zimmerman saying, “This guy looks like he’s up to no good. He looks black.”

But Mr. Zimmerman’s comments had been taken grossly out of context by NBC. On the phone with a 911 dispatcher, he actually said of Mr. Martin, “This guy looks like he’s up to no good. Or he’s on drugs or something. It’s raining and he’s just walking around, looking about.” Then the dispatcher asked, “O.K., and this guy — is he white, black or Hispanic?” Only then did Mr. Zimmerman say, “He looks black.”

This is a perfect example of it not being ok to yell, "FIRE" in a crowded theater. It is equivalent to pouring gasoline on an already growing fire and calling attention to it while blaming someone else. It is nothing short of despicable.

The New York Times piece ends thusly:

The people with direct knowledge of the firing characterized the misleading edit as a mistake, not a purposeful act.

To that I have one question: If NewsBusters hadn't discovered the edit and someone at NBC had, would the same disciplinary actions have taken place?

Let me answer that: NO

I already posted this video once, last week, but in light of these revelations, I thought it would be worth posting again. It is 20 years old but explains quite a bit about what we're seeing in the media. Al Sharpton explains how he manipulates the media but pay particularly close attention to his former colleague, Perry McKinnon at the 4:30 mark about the antics of Sharpton being very dangerous.